THE HOLY SEE WILL PARTICIPATE WITH A PAVILION AT EXPO MILAN 2015

Vatican City, 27 February 2014 (VIS) – This morning in the Holy See Press Office the protocol was presented for the participation of the Holy See at Expo Milan 2015. The general theme of the event will be “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life”.

Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, Commissioner General for the Holy See for Expo Milan 2015, and Giuseppe Sala, Sole Commissioner Delegate of the Italian Government for Expo Milan 2015, signed the Protocol this morning in the Sala Regia of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, and spoke at the press conference.

Expo Milan 2015 will begin on 1 May 2015 and will continue until 31 October; 140 countries will participate with their respective pavilions. The theme of the Holy See's pavilion will be “Not by bread alone”, and aims to “highlight, above all, the inner, religious and cultural dimension that affects both the person and his relationships at all levels. Inner nourishment is just as necessary as that which responds to more immediate needs”.

From the universal value of sharing and solidarity to the protection of the Earth's resources that must not be squandered or plundered, the Holy See's pavilion will promote profound reflection on the concept of “nourishment”, and will do so by presenting four areas.

The first is a garden to preserve, which relates to the protection of Creation, with all its resources, a gift given by the Creator to all humanity, and a patrimony that must not be wasted, plundered or destroyed. The second will be food to share; the Gospel account of the multiplication of bread will provide the guiding image and will underline the universal value of sharing and solidarity, expressed in the Christian context of the many institutions that have implemented this commandment of brotherly love. The third is a meal that educates, and emphasizes that education is fundamental for forming young generations in the context of a culture of human relations focused on the essentials and not on consumerist waste (of both goods and human beings); and the fourth is bread that makes God present in the world, based on the typically religious and Christian dimension of the Eucharist, the Word and Bread of life, the source and culmination of all Christian existence.